Impressionism

Subjects and Styles

Pissarro Jean Louis David “Father of Impressionist

Movement” Salon

•Embraced Seurats Pointillism as the natural development of Impressionism

•historical/religious/mythological subjects

Modern World Began in France. Most successful movement. Name derived from Monet’s early work

“Sunrise” Reacted Strongly against the “dead art” of the

past and the restrictions of the Academic Art/Salon.

The idea of recording immediate impressions, documenting own experiences. Capturing a moment in time.

Sensory Impressions

Degas

Sensory Impressions Images appear to be accidental and

spontaneous. Artists did make numerous preliminary

sketches. Wanted the work to be uncontrived.

Public Places “En plain air” or out of

doors Depicting sunlight and its

effects on objects . This completely changed

the darker palette characteristic of the Salon.

Renoir and Monet used rainbow colors eliminated black shadows/no outlines

Monet one of the most famous French Impressionist

Monet

Public Places – Radiant portraits of large groups of people

Renoir “Luncheon of the Boating Party”

Public Places

Cassatt and Manet

Public Places

Degas

Cassatt was influenced by the work of Degas Cassatt

La Loge 1879

Optical Color Mixing

Colors juxtaposed on the canvas and fused by the eye at a certain distance.

Use of unmixed primary colors. Made a visual vibration that recreated the

sense of sparkling sunlight.

Seurat – Neo-Impressionist responsible for creating pointillism (Detail)

Optical Color Mixing

Seurat

Optical Color MixingCreated Images of haystacks and gardens

Monet

Sense of Immediacy Moment of the artist’s visual experience

was directly transcribed onto the canvas. Use of broken brushwork and the

transience of the subjects such a running horses and people at work.

Small brush strokes used to simulate actual reflected light.

Sense of Immediacy

Cassatt Morisot

Degas

Known for his paintings of ballerinas, racetracks, cafes and music halls

Influences Development of Paris and urban

sensibility. Leisure activities – outdoor activies Technology and photography – captured

how people and animals moved. Rise of the middle class. Commercially available oil paint in

resealable aluminum tubes – artists could work outside

Influences Japanese prints, flat, bright color, emphasizing line

and asymmetrical compositions.

Cassatt

•Applied pastels with loose vigorous strokes, leaving soft fuzzy lines. Suggesting immediacy

•Favorite subjects were women/children/family

•The only American to exhibit with the the Impressionist

Cassatt

Morisot

•Made famous for her bright colored portraits of women, children and basic family life

•The first woman to join the Impressionist